Science

Why does science matter? Why should every girl see herself as a scientist?

At Sikh Heritage Girls School, science is about knowing, questioning and finding out. We want our girls to develop a strong understanding of biology, chemistry and physics, but also to understand something deeper: how scientific knowledge is built. Pupils learn to observe carefully, ask worthwhile questions, recognise patterns, test ideas, interpret evidence and reconsider conclusions when the evidence demands it.

Our ambition is for girls to know science securely enough to think with it.

SHGS is proud to have achieved the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) through the University of Hertfordshire, recognising our sustained work to strengthen science across the school. PSQM celebrates schools that can demonstrate the impact of a full cycle of science development against its Primary Science Quality Framework.

For us, this is part of an ongoing commitment. Science at SHGS continues to grow; and ambition extends beyond lessons. From Year 1 onwards, every girl takes part in science beyond the classroom through national competitions, scientific challenges, workshops and opportunities to encounter working scientists and current research.

We want every pupil to see science as something she can understand, question and contribute to.

Science beyond SHGS

Science at SHGS reaches well beyond the classroom.

From Year 1, girls take part in national science competitions, challenges and workshops. All pupils encounter opportunities to apply scientific knowledge to problems that matter, including challenges linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This asks something different of pupils. Girls must draw together what they know, generate possibilities, solve problems, collaborate and communicate their ideas clearly. They begin to see that science can be used not only to understand the world, but to improve it.

We also want our pupils to encounter science while it is still being discovered. Our girls have opportunities to meet scientists, researchers, academics and clinicians and to ask questions about the work they are doing now.

Recent experiences have included the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition at Carlton House Terrace, where pupils explored cutting-edge UK science and met researchers behind the work. The Royal Society's 2026 exhibition brought together 13 flagship research exhibits and a Young Researcher Zone, with a dedicated day for primary school groups.

Girls have also taken part in an Imperial College London-led child-health research event at Chelsea FC's Stamford Bridge, meeting scientists and healthcare professionals and engaging with current research into children's health.

These experiences are not simply trips: they allow our pupils to see that science is alive: questions remain unanswered, knowledge continues to change and the people making those discoveries are real people whom they can meet, question and learn from.

We want our girls to be able to imagine themselves among them.

Implementation:

Knowledge and scientific thinking

Science is carefully sequenced so that new learning builds securely on what pupils already know. Teachers explicitly teach important concepts and vocabulary, revisit prior learning and address misconceptions before they become embedded. Pupils are given time to connect new ideas with earlier knowledge so that their understanding becomes increasingly detailed and sophisticated.

Working scientifically is taught with the same care. As girls move through the school, they become increasingly accomplished at asking questions, choosing appropriate ways to investigate them, using equipment, measuring accurately, considering variables, recording evidence, identifying patterns and evaluating conclusions.

We do not assume that pupils will learn how to think scientifically simply by carrying out experiments. The knowledge and habits required for good scientific enquiry are deliberately taught and developed over time.

Practical work always has a scientific purpose. Pupils observe, measure, investigate, model and gather evidence because doing so helps them understand the science more deeply. Our outdoor environment extends this further. Fieldwork and learning outside the classroom allow pupils to encounter living things, habitats, seasonal change, materials and natural processes directly, turning the world around them into a place for careful scientific observation.

All girls access this ambitious curriculum, including pupils with SEND. Where support is needed, teachers adapt how pupils encounter and record the learning through modelling, visual representations, pre-teaching, carefully structured practical work, additional practice or smaller steps. The route may be adapted; the scientific ambition remains high.

Our Intent:

Our science curriculum develops both scientific knowledge and scientific thinking. Pupils build secure and increasingly connected knowledge of the natural and physical world. Alongside this, they learn how scientists establish, test and refine what we know.

Girls are taught to:

  • develop secure knowledge across biology, chemistry and physics;

  • use scientific vocabulary accurately and confidently;

  • ask increasingly precise scientific questions;

  • make predictions using what they already know;

  • observe, measure, classify and record carefully;

  • recognise patterns and relationships;

  • understand and use different forms of scientific enquiry;

  • interpret evidence and draw reasoned conclusions;

  • identify when evidence does not support an original idea;

  • explain scientific thinking clearly;

  • approach unfamiliar scientific problems with curiosity and confidence.

Our pupils should not simply remember what scientists have discovered: They should begin to understand how we know.

Assessment

Assessment in science helps us understand what pupils know, what they understand and how well they can use that knowledge.

Teachers use questioning, discussion, pupils' written work, practical activity and carefully chosen assessment tasks to identify secure learning and misconceptions.

We are interested in more than whether a pupil can recall a fact.

Can she explain it? Can she connect it to previous learning? Can she use it to interpret an observation? Can she select relevant evidence? Can she apply her knowledge when the context changes?

Assessment allows teachers to identify what needs to be revisited and ensures that pupils build increasingly secure scientific knowledge rather than simply moving from one topic to the next.

Impact

By the time girls leave SHGS, we want them to know a substantial amount of science and know what to do with that knowledge.

They should be able to explain rather than simply recall, investigate with increasing independence, use evidence when reaching conclusions and recognise that scientific claims need to be supported. They should understand that science is not a collection of finished answers. It is a disciplined way of asking questions about the world and establishing explanations that the evidence can support.

Above all, we want our girls to remain curious: to notice what others may overlook, ask worthwhile questions and have the knowledge and confidence to investigate them. Whether they later encounter medicine, engineering, environmental science, physics, chemistry, biology, technology or scientific research, we want them to recognise those worlds as places in which they can participate and excel.

Research-Informed Practice

Our approach is informed by evidence about how pupils learn science well. The Education Endowment Foundation's Improving Primary Science guidance emphasises the importance of scientific vocabulary, assessment, purposeful practical work and developing pupils' understanding of scientific concepts and procedures.

Ofsted's science research distinguishes between substantive knowledge — established scientific knowledge — and disciplinary knowledge — knowledge of how scientific understanding is established and refined. Its subject research also emphasises carefully sequenced learning, purposeful practical work and an ambitious science entitlement for pupils with SEND.

Our achievement of the Primary Science Quality Mark sits alongside this evidence-informed approach and our continuing commitment to developing excellent science across SHGS.

Selected References

Education Endowment Foundation. Improving Primary Science.

Ofsted. Research Review Series: Science.

Ofsted. Finding the Optimum: The Science Subject Report.

Primary Science Quality Mark, University of Hertfordshire.

The Royal Society. Summer Science Exhibition.